Alex,
1) Mining corporations very rarely deal directly and honestly with the communities whose land they wish to take over; they use proxies (often local politicians, policemen or the army) and they prefer a piece-meal approach such as the one they're taking in Limpopo and the use of local 'representatives' who have been bribed to pick landowners off one by one, rather than confront a united community - to counter-act this it is imperative that the whole community holds a meeting as soon as possible to discuss what is going on. In situations like this, the mining company will have offered sums of money which may sound like a great deal in an impoverished community but are nothing compared to the profit that company will make from the land - therefore, to those who are tempted by the offer it is best to say that if the community presents a united front and is patient, even if they decide to sell land they will get a far higher price if they stand together
2) In cases like these it may be better to start with local NGOs working in environmental responsibility; if you go to the UN directory of NGOs working in South Africa (http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/ngodirectory/index.htm), you get organizations such as:
Community Dispute Resolution Trust, PO Box 31322, Braamfontein, South Africa
(Phone: 27 11 403 8280, Fax: 27 11 403 1391, Email: [log in to unmask])
Group for Environmental Monitoring, PO Box 30684, Braamfontein, 2000, South Africa (Phone 27 11 403 7666, Fax: 27 11 403 7563, Email: [log in to unmask])
Environmental Justice Networking Forum, PO Box 100029, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa (Phone: 27 331 949 073 / 949 074, Fax: 27 331 455 841, Email: [log in to unmask])
NGOs however tend to be a mixed bag, so further afield there are African NGOs heavily involved in the extractive industries such as the Third World Network Africa (based in Ghana), and you can find a list of staff contact details here - http://twnafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45:staff-profiles&catid=55:twn-info&Itemid=105.
For the heavy hitters, there is the group of NGOS that submitted a joint response to the Extractive Industries report of 2005, which is called ESCR-NET (Corporate Accountability Working Group), which includes NGOs such as RAID, ACIDH, Amnesty International, MOSOP, Stakeholder Democracy, EarthRights International, Tebtebba Foundation, LRC-KsK, Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales, FIAN, Miseror, Halifax Initiative Coalition, Mines and Communities, Global Witness, WACAM, SOMO and OECD-Watch.
You can either contact NGOs directly (done some bits and pieces with Global Witness and Mines and Communities and they're pretty good) or talk to the ESCR-NET directly in New York to get advice:
Suad Elias Atala
Acting Director
+1 (212) 681-1236 ext. 26
[log in to unmask]
Rebecca Brown
Deputy Director
+1 (212) 681-1236 ext. 24
[log in to unmask]
Thea Gelbspan
Program Officer
[log in to unmask]
Daniela Ikawa
Program Officer
[log in to unmask]
If they're worried about which one(s) to choose, then why not write a joint e-mail (if they have internet access) and send it to all of the above? The press will soon pick it up and in general terms mining corporations like to work by stealth and through deceit - the more 'daylight' and noise the community can bring to bear the more protection they have. It also makes it harder for corrupt politicians to help the mining company surreptitiously - getting the local and national press involved is also therefore a good idea.
Hope this helps,
Jon
Dr Jon Cloke
Lecturer in Human Geography
Geography Department
Loughborough University
Leicestershire LE11 3TU
Room JJ 0.14
Phone 44 (0)1509 228193
“The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege
which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic
pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions
and no longer are; they merely have” - Paulo Freire.
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